Steve's Excellent Adventures

Historical Society books to get a long look

Here's why Idaho Historical Society director Steve Guerber's credit card foibles matter: because the mere $700 worth of troubles auditors found with his receipts were found in a random sampling over a three-year period.

"It's a judgemental decision," said Legislative Audits director Ray Ineck of the receipts they chose to review. "We just turned them over and said, 'Oh, that one looks interesting.'"

They sure can pick `em. They plucked 10 travel expense reports filed by Guerber and found problems with each and every one.

So it's understandable now that the agency's board of trustees voted to send every last record ever filed by Guerber over to the state controller's office for a full audit.

"Our intent is to compare the travel and expense reports of the Director and those of the entire agency," said Tony Edmondson, the chairman of the board in a statement released last week. "We will determine whether the reported discrepancies were part of a systemic problem or individual in nature."

Guerber told the Idaho Statesman the errors in his statements--which include double-billing for meals while on trips and the purchase of pay-per-view movies while in hotels--were accidental, and that they should have been caught by his fiscal office.

He has since retained legal counsel, and has declined to comment. According to Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower, the matter has been forwarded to the Boise Police Department for investigation.